Category: Economics

Financial Crisis and Its Tie with U.S. Government Irresponsibility

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The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was met by an equally swift response from US regulators. But the crisis is far from over, and the nature of the authorities’ response introduces problems of its own….. time inconsistency in policy making (coming up with new tools and rules after the fact) does present a difficult problem. In this case, a bank run suddenly rendered an optimal policy – limited deposit guarantees – suboptimal. But by breaking their own rule, regulators jeopardize their own credibility. Rescuing all SVB depositors – including those with deposits above the FDIC ceiling – is not without controversy, says Takatoshi Ito, a former Japanese deputy vice minister of finance, a professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a senior professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

However, there are ways to mitigate moral hazard. First, depositors should be guaranteed for their principal, but not for interest payments (or at least for above-average payments). Second, bank executives’ salaries for the period leading up to the crisis – say, the previous three years – should be clawed back, and any pending bonuses should be denied. One reason why the 2008 bank bailouts were so unpopular was that executives still received bonuses. This must not be repeated in the current crisis.

In a piece with Project Syndicate, An Insolvency Iceberg, Ito detail analyze the logic, assuming the media’s reporting tells the whole story:

This is where moral hazard comes in. Now that US authorities have issued an ex post blanket guarantee, all depositors will expect that any and all deposits will be protected. They will duly pour deposits into institutions offering higher interest rates; but such competitive rates tend to be offered on large deposits by weak banks with tight liquidity constraints. These weak institutions’ depositors can now anticipate being made whole if the institution fails. Accordingly, they will cease to play any monitoring role within the financial system.

And make no mistake: bank executives will be motivated to take on a lot more risk. On one hand, if their risky loans do not become non-performing, their institutions will reap large profits, and they will be compensated handsomely. On the other hand, if their loans go south, they will just leave the bank and move on to the next thing (recall that SVB paid out bonuses on the very day that it was failing).

…..In Japan, where the inflation rate is much lower than in the US and Europe …… and the Bank of Japan is still intervening in the market to cap the ten-year bond rate at 50 basis points. But if the inflation rate in Japan continues to rise for the rest of the year, some regional Japanese banks may confront liquidity crises, which could trigger bank runs. Though this is far from the baseline scenario, it cannot be ruled out.

Over the last few months, a G7 economy (the United Kingdom), a midsize US bank (Silicon Valley Bank), a small African economy (Ghana), a lower-middle-income South Asian economy (Pakistan), and the fastest-growing global services sector (technology) have all faced short-term cash constraints. Monetary-policy tightening in the United States – where the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 475 basis points in the space of a year – has produced knock-on effects around the world. But the stark disparities in how these effects are being treated speak volumes about current global financial arrangements. As in past systemic crises, this one is revealing major flaws in the international financial system. Vera Songwe, Chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote in Where Is the Global South’s Rescue Brigade?

In another article The Fed’s Role in the Bank Failures by Raghuram G. Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and Viral V. Acharya, a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, pointed out There are four reasons to worry that the latest banking crisis could be systemic. The article re-examines bank behavior and supervision, reminds the Fed that it cannot afford to ignore the role that its own monetary policies (especially QE) played in creating today’s difficult conditions.

The two authors called attention to a under-appreciated fact in a paper presented at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole conference in August 2022. As the Fed resumed QE during the pandemic, uninsured bank deposits rose from about $5.5 trillion at the end of 2019 to over $8 trillion by the first quarter of 2022.

Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister of Greece, is leader of the MeRA25 party and Professor of Economics at the University of Athens, suggest in Let the Banks Burn, ” In fact, regulators and central banks knew everything. They enjoyed full access to banks’ business models. They could see vividly that these models would not survive the combination of significant increases in long-term interest rates and a sudden withdrawal of deposits. Even so, they did nothing. “

How Can We Prevent Another Financial Crisis Worse than that in 2008?

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The recent SVB, Signature Bank, First Republic Bank as well as one of world’s top 30 bank – Credit Sussie are experiencing huge crisis, triggering panics. And it is said the German bank has turn on red light as well. And so Paul Craig Robert’s article The US Has the World Setup for a Worse Financial Crisis than in 2008 caught my attention. Here are the main points:

  • Such a crisis, because of US financial dominance and because of the interconnections of globalism, which was a huge mistake for humanity, would be international.
  • One way that cause the crisis is the shrinking asset side of banks’ balance sheets but not the liabilities side caused by decades of low interest rate and the current rate hikes not seen since 2006.
  • Second avenue to crisis is the $188 trillions of dollars exposure in derivatives held by the five large U.S banks, this dollar amount is much higher than in 2008, so the potential for a worse crisis exists.
  • The derivative crisis that occurred in 2008 resulted from the repeal in 1999 of the Glass Steagall Act which had prevented financial crisis for 66 years since its passage in 1933. The Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial from investment banking.

Since back in the 1980s, $50 trillion has been transferred from the bottom 90% of Americans… to the richest 1%. That’s more money than the GDP of China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, India, and Italy… combined. All going into the pockets of a short list of Americans.

Wall Street crushed our housing and financial markets in 2008… and came out $39 trillion richer in just 24 months. In 2020, as the world panicked at the start of the pandemic, Wall Street took every advantage they could to make more. And do you know what happened? The top 1% ended up with two-thirds of the wealth created from the global meltdown. Listen to this folks… For every ONE DOLLAR of new global wealth earned by the bottom 90%, the ultra-rich gained roughly $1.7 million…

Households without a college degree saw their share of the nation’s net worth shrink in 2020. Holders of a degree held 71.8% of the national total at the end of last year. The Wealth Gains That Made 2020 a Banner Year for the Richest 1%. There’s a reason the 1% has average gains TWICE as big as the ordinary investor over the span of three decades. And if you’ve ever wondered how… it’s by playing this twisted game only they know the rules to. And maybe the next round of the game has already begun. And if that take place, what’s happening now could be even worse. Are our governments continue to let the situation worse by allowing policies like low/no taxes on the super rich and high tax on the middle class?


By November 2022, more than 634 million people had contracted Covid-19. Over 6.61 million had died. Here comes several whistleblowers reveal to the public what is going on.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Part 1): The Dark Secrets of the Childhood Immunization Schedule and the Vaccine Approval Process. and (Part 2) Tools of Tyrants. Robert Kennedy Jr. understands so much and has experience to share. He knows it takes people to run a world and they got to be paid and treated most of all fair by the systems and each other. 

According to Aaron Siri, managing partner of Siri & Glimstad LLP, the vaccine manufacturer had secure unprocedent protections from liabilities three decades ago. If they prevail , then in 5-10 years, it will reset the normal health baseline in America for heart issues, cardiovascular disease. That would be the new normal. “I was always told that vaccines are safe. And if a product is safe, why do you need to give the manufacturer … essentially immunity to liability for the injuries that that product causes? Because if it’s safe, certainly in the way that our public health authorities project it safe to the public, there shouldn’t be any injuries, or there should be one in a million, as you often hear.” Aaron Siri reveals to the public in detail (Part 1): Why are Vaccine Manufacturers the most protected, and (Part 2): the dark secret of vaccine business model.

When we finally had that data, you got a sense of why they didn’t want the public to have it, because it showed that 7.7 percent of the over 10 million V-safe users reported needing medical care after a COVID-19 vaccine.

Among all these chao, Victor Davis Hanson spoke of what underspin is The top-down revolution engulfing America. And as the world is gripped by the ongoing pandemic, many questions remain about the origin of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus—commonly known as the novel coronavirus. Joshua Philipp hosted the documentary expose the Wuhan Lab Leak: Tracking down covid’s origin.

Victor Davis Hanson, a classicist, military historian, and author of a number of best-selling books, including most recently “The Dying Citizen.”

Humanity Have to Live According to Cosmic Order 2

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The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease written by Charles Kenny, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, is an astute explication of our species’ battles with microbes since the dawn of human time. For 4,000 years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. Striking humanity in waves, the cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilization growth and decline, since common response to the threat was exclusion — quarantining the sick or keeping them out. But the unprecedented hygiene and medical revolutions of the past two centuries have allowed humanity to free itself from the hold of epidemic cycles — resulting in an urbanized, globalized, and unimaginably wealthy world.

However, our development has lately become precarious. Climate and population fluctuations and factors such as global trade have left us more vulnerable than ever to newly emerging plagues. Greater global cooperation toward sustainable health is urgently required — such as the international efforts to manufacture and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine — with millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake.

The book quote the research by infectious Disease Mortality Trends in the United States, 1980-2014 conducted by Victoria Hansen, etc. In 1900, eight out of every one thousand people died from an infectious disease, and that wasn’t an unusual year. And according to the study by Max Roser, Hannah Ritchie, Bernadeta Dadonaite, The global child mortality rate of the 1950s was 22.5%, close to one death every second. five times the level of today.

As we have more understanding of history, The Plague Cycle author draw these conclusion:

The Covid-19 pandemic perhaps is only a forecaster of even worse to come. Perhaps we’ll backslide. If anti-vaccine prophets peddle their deadly disinformation without response, if our last antibiotics are wasted on adding a few ounces of white meat to a chicken breast, if we do nothing to improve global cooperation, surveillance coverage, and rapid response to outbreaks.

Hippocrates Refusing the Gifts of Artaxerxes is a painting describes Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” who’d treated victims in the plague of Athens, refuses gifts from the Persian king Artaxerxes, who is seeking the same help in dealing with a plague in his country.

Now we know what the world will look like. The world surely recognizes that pestilence may be the more likely source of a millennial global catastrophe – certainly the first horseman rides ahead of terror, climate change, or a collapse in food production. A planet without our most effective tools against infection is one moving back toward Malthusian misery. It is a world where our view of mortality as an increasingly private affair is blown away by mass burial of the young. It is a world that is poorer, more violent, more insular – a bigoted and misogynistic place.

The history of infection teaches a particular lesson to those who want to withdraw from international cooperation: if disease becomes the excuse for closing borders and deploying force, the costs to global progress will be immense. We don’t have to accept a new pathogen as the will of God – nor are flight, fortresses, or imprisonment our only defense against the scourge.


Humanity Have to Live According to Cosmic Order

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Today there is an article talked about AI Develops Cancer Treatment In 30 Days, Predicts Survival Rate. This paper try to persuade readers the evidence of the capacity for AI to transform the drug discovery process with enhanced speed, efficiency, and accuracy, and Michael Levitt, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry is an enthusiastic supporter of this, as well as big corporations. In my not so humbled opinion, this is allopathy model scare the heck out of me. After the covid-19 vaccination development and still the virus mutate all the time, AI methods is just going to create more virus rather than healing. AI model is one that of arrogant 简单粗暴, deviate from cosmic wisdom. What a pity AI can not treat itself of cancer! What confidence you put on people who do NOT follow the maxim of “do it to others as you would like to do it onto yourself”?

My sucepticle come from my understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine mechanism, which does not relate so well with chemistry because TCM used organic herbal compounds rather than single non-organic chemical abstracts. Western chemical is based on quantifiable 109 table of elements of the world. This model of worldview separates matter(Yang) and spirit (Yin), causing biased understanding of the human body function. The characteristic of TCM diagnoses is based on balance of Yin Yang and Five Xin (Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal). I believe other holistic treatment like India’s Ayveda and Native Americans energy medicine all follow this kind of approach.

中国著名中医学家、国医大师周仲瑛教授临证六十余载，擅长恶性肿瘤诊治，从“癌毒”辨治恶性肿瘤取得了突出的疗效。周老根据他60年临证经验， 认为癌毒是恶性肿瘤的病机关键，恶性肿瘤的治疗务必以“消癌解毒”为首要。肿瘤病机虽有多端，但概而言之，不外“虚、毒、痰、瘀”四端，四者之间常相互夹杂、相兼为患。 临证根据邪正虚实、标本缓急，或以攻毒祛邪为主，或以补虚扶正为主，或攻补兼施。根据癌毒与痰、瘀、湿、热等病理因素兼夹主次情况，配合化痰、祛瘀、利湿、清热等治法。初期，正虚不显时，以消癌解毒配合化痰软坚、逐瘀散结为主；中期，兼有脏腑功能失调时，可适当伍入调理脏腑功能之品；晚期，正虚明显者，则以补益气血阴阳为主，兼顾消癌解毒、化痰软坚、逐瘀散结等法。

Continue with the idea of cancer derived from toxic not expelled out from body and accumulate over the time causing the Yin Yang out of balance （cell mutation), we notice this phenomenon is manifested in social political economic sphere as well. Human ego’s crave for perpetuate growth, desire with having more, which is not in align with how universe operate. Just observe the four seasons with each season contribute to the development of next one. People have observed when there are no obvious winter season, the plants does not bloom in spring and summer. Before the globalization, different regions lived different life style and pace of growth, allowing complementary space. After Columbus discover the new continent, all the development is exploited on the idea of colonization or expanding territory. The last five hundred plus year witnessed the process of exploitation to Earth resources now verged on exhaustion. That western philosophy was winner takes it all, which build in human’s fight and flight response to life, had now spread to rest of the world with globalization as norm. Human’s insatiable desire keep on taking from the nature without any giving back. But the covid-19 is the siren waking us to our self-destructive behavior. Russia Ukraine war is another loud alarm for impending nuclear war! Humanity HAVE to live their life according to cosmic order, divine principle, or face the danger of extinction, similar to the 9-11 disaster symbolism of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The recent bank insolvency of Credit Suisse and potential many others accidents waiting to happen. Living on the doctrine of survival of the fittest, the Western mindset is based on that of dominance and predatory, so there no moral condom of either colonization or other similar aggression behavior as organized crime. Industrial revolution, science revolution and now digital revolution are all build on a mentality of dominance for power and control. That is the root cause of WWI and WWII. Weaponize the currency and structured exploitation using finance scheme is evidence of such strategic of state craft. Then eye for an eye response triggers potential of war violence and nuclear war. Confrontation rather than inter-dependence overtake our rational mind.

Iraq war and Middle East wars certain is the manifestation of the American empire’s military power. But American has lost a lot for what it hope to gain. There is no winner in the war. 【苑举正】俄乌战争已进入决战期! 台大教授解密：未来世界格局如何发展？

I still feel the decade of 1960s is the start of current decay we are undergoing. One way of evidence is planet Pluto and Uranus conjunct on 18 Virgo, which is a 127 year cycle. Virgo is the sign of huge shift from individual psychology to social interactions. Coming from Leo of creative, dramatic, complacency and self-center, Virgo is a adjustment before entering into Liberal which is a relationship sign. Virgo promote detoxification, improvement, analysis, methodology, introspection. The 1960s Pluto and Uranus conjunction is close to U.S. Neptune of 22 degree Virgo in the natal chart. And all these three is square to U.S Mars (symbolic of aggression) in Gemini at natal chart. And we can recall beatles, flower love, psychedelic drug usage, Vietnam war, Cuber Missile contention, space exploration… all the confusion, disorientation of high octave planets is long terms effects on collective psyches. Another way is Professor Zheng ShiQiang talking about 《皇極經世》, which indicate 巽 （1924-1983）之蛊（1964-1973）。 Now we have 鼎 （1984-2043）之蛊 （2014-2023）is further decay from the 1960s。

中國最嚴重的問題上不了兩會，習近平真的沒把民眾當回事； 李克強為何漏掉關鍵一段？是故意的還是出狀況？ Compare to France, where the union workers can protest, China’s retirement account has eleven provinces already exhausted their funds. The communist party led government has money to bribe corruptions, throwing money on one belt projects. The peasants were robbed of their lands and force to work in the factories, and now they do not have money for the retirees, because central government had drew all taxes from all provinces, leaving each provinces hang in despair. 专制与时代精神不合拍. 在黑暗的时代不反抗，就意味着同谋。——萨特

If we do not correct our problem, purify ourselves from the toxics, the cancer will take over the body.

Talk Out Loud -Soliciting Ideas for Drastic Changes -The Viral Underclass 

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There are times we are just dumbfounded and lost our ability to process information and deal with life effectively by the overwhelming pressures all seems to come at the same time – the non-stop wars, the severe Earthquake everywhere, the derailed train spill intoxicant over in Ohio causing human and nature disasters. etc…. It is shocking so many horrified events happened one after another, and many leaders in religious group and government passed away this past three years.

The latest one being Master Xing Yun who left us two weeks ago after the Chinese lunar new year. I still remember his new year greetings broadcasting just a few days earlier: ” ….Let us begin anew, and tomorrow will be better. Let us think this way,: the last year is already the past, if I have fallen short, this year I shall remedy my flaws. If in the past year, anything was left unfinished, this year is a good time for me to seize the opportunity. In Humanistic Buddhism of ours, we are promoting Humanistic Buddhism. A human world where everyone is happy, everyone is at peace, everyone is joyful and wealthy. Wealthy does not mean only money, our health is wealth, our peace is wealth, our joy is wealth, having good affinities with others can be considered as our wealth. We have wisdom, compassion, and the Dharma, all of which are our wealth. So every Spring Festival, people wish each other prosperity. In fact, wealth is within our own mind, making aspirations is wealth. …… Let us encourage each other with mutual blessings. ……”

Yes life must go on, no matter what. Even though individually our brain can get short-circuit, but join the forces together, we can form group-will and face the issue (reality) together, by tackling it one by one, one step at a time, for the benefits of all – all human and non-human, however slowly the progress may be. 三个臭皮匠，赛过一个诸葛亮！ And when we are in one with the universe, that is, when we are operating under the divine principle, we should prevail.

We come to this Earth realm to take lessons. There are only two options, voluntarily or involuntarily: our soul either evolve or devolve. And in the spirit of promoting Humanistic Buddhism, I want to talk out loud on issues in whatever capacity I have, however immature and inadequate. By sharing and discussion, I hope together we may be able to come up with better understanding, and better solutions.

The past three years witness the spread of covid-19 virus that completely change our life in many ways. While the tragedy took away millions of life, causing numerous restrictions, gave rise to many drawbacks, we can not totally deny the lessons the virus teaches us. And that is the message the book The Viral Underclass – the Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide trying to convey. Author Steven Thrasher is an American journalist and academic, the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg Chair of social justice in reporting at (NWU)Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism focusing on LGBTQ research. He is also a faculty member of NWU’s Institute for Sexual and Gender minority health and Wellbeing. The book combines broad and deep reporting and heartrending narrative storytelling, examines the ways HIV/AIDS and other viruses strike people and communities with deliberate intention. His book is essential reading for our understanding of epidemics. His analysis of the viral underclass ring the siren alarming us with transforming unequal access to health care in a world where a pandemic heightens the brutality of inequality. Author challenges us to abandon our fatal illusions of separateness in favor of an embrace of our place in a collective entanglement of bodies. The following is an excerpt from the Epilogue of the book:

…… “My body, my choice” is a bipartisan tenet in U.S. politics scripture considered by many to be as sacrosanct as the right to stand your ground and defend your property with a gun. In the 1970s, when liberals wanted to enshrine reproductive justice in U.S. law, they did not frame their arguments in terms of wanting free abortions as part of universal health care for the entire society. They rarely articulated it as a desire for abortion at all – nor have they named abortion access much in the decades since. Instead, they frame abortion in the context of privacy and choice, encouraging society to consider intimate health matters with the same neoliberal logic that was marketing so many areas of contemporary life.

If I own my body, such logic asserts, I should be able to do anything I want with it. With an ownership mentality, if one owns one’s body, one is also freed from all social obligations to and from others. So, if it’s “my body, my choice,” then anyone can think, Yes, I can have an abortion, which is a health necessity.

But this same logic can also lead to thinking, I don’t have to join a union; my destiny is mine, and mine alone. It can also lead one down the path of believing, I also don’t want to be taxed and forced to pay for schools for someone else’s kids. Or towards feeling that If I am buying bottled water – or if I am brave and I choose to drink tap water knowing its risks – why do I need to be forced to pay for treating the water in Flint, Michigan? And it can mean, if I don’t want to wear a mask or get a vaccine, that is my right, and the repercussions of this on those around me don’t concern me.”

Across the political spectrum, “my body, my choice” can be used to conjure America’s sense of how individual ownership should supersede all else. But this notion of individuality, despite being a core element of American society. It is a myth that we are each the master of our own distinct destiny. It is a myth that the risks inherent in experiencing child-rearing, pandemics, and climate change should never be experienced collectively. And it is a belief that results in behavior with regard to one’s health, and its consequences, being seen as entirely the choice and burden (financial and otherwise) of the lone person experiencing it.

The logic of this myth works only if we pointedly ignore the hierarchies of power class, and American history. Pay no mind to the fact that the myth often comes from people who want to bust unions or who own bottled water companies. forget that an ownership mentality about individual bodies has been dangerous on the North American continent from before the birth of the United States. After all, if a body can be owned, ownership of that body can be transferred – by force of enslavement, for example.

But do consider how often we are encouraged to frame our internal thinking, in some form, along the lines of I should be able to do what I want, when I want, because its my body and my choice! Thinking I have a body is very different from thinking I am a body. This schism can make it difficult for us not only to feel in alignment with our full selves, but also to understand just how deeply we are connected to other humans – how inextricably all our fates are bound together.

Viruses challenge the concept that any one of us “has” one body. As they move freely between the lungs, bloodstream, and genitals of one of us to another, they show how we is a more relevant concept than you or me. How can any of us “own” a part of this body we all share? We can’t. And yet, so much of our thinking is wedded to this concept of my body, as if it existed discreetly.

I believe people who are pregnant should be able to end pregnancies. I also believe that if someone has an abortion, they should not have to deal with it or pay for it alone. It should be free and supported, as part of universal health care. And I believe that if someone has a child, it is not up to them alone to provide everything that child will need for the next couple of decades.

Similarly, I believe every transgender person should get the health care they need, including gender-affirming surgery. But the burden should not be on them alone; they exist in relationship with others, and it is up to the cisgender people around them to offer them gender-affirming care.

Letting go of this ownership framing wouldn’t necessarily mean letting go of agency for anyone to get what they desired. Still, it could mean letting go of the burden that everything must be shouldered alone. It certainly would require relinquishing the illusion that we are all floating specks bobbing through the universe without tie to one another. Unlike so many economic and political forces in the United States that pressure us to see ourselves as siloed and alienated, viruses offer us a deeper understanding of how to think ethically in relation to one another – and a sense of how much more power that gives us.

For any person to enjoy the benefits of lower community viral loads, breathable air, and the kind of equitable vaccination that leads to herd immunity, communal thinking is required. But true communal thinking is not nationalist thinking. By the middle of 2021, more vaccines were freely available in the United States than there were people who readily wanted them; by the end of the year, many Americans could even get a third booster shot, if they wanted. Yet even as thousands were dying in countries where people desperate for vaccines couldn’t even get one shot, many proud U.S. citizens loudly bragged about refusing to take any that were available to them. By 2022, the United States was behind dozens of other countries in its vaccination rate.

Most of us in the United States are socialized to think as consumers, not as citizens of a society with collective health responsibilities – even me. For instance, before COVID-19, I could get on planes easily and fly anywhere I could afford in the world, with little thought to how that choice affected the asthmatic Black and brown children living near the airports I departed from and arrived at, whose lungs inhaled exhaust from the jets ferrying me around. Or how the carbon footprint of my travel would affect wildfires in California or Greece.

Why did I need to think of their bodies when I thought about flying? I was free to do whatever I chose with my body, as long as I could afford the price of the ticket ? ….. because…… we asked you to go on a journey focusing on the viral underclass, so that their stories could help you rethink your most deeply held assumptions – the most deeply held assumptions, that most fundamental, largely unexamined premise we have in the United States is the belief that I am me and you are you and that each of us is the master of our own hero’s journey.

What if viruses teach us that there is no “me” and no “you” at all and that we all share one collective body? And that such individualistic thinking creates not only an underclass, but alienation across lines of class?

Think back to how viruses literally take a part of one person’s code and transfer it to another, which transforms that person individually and forever alters their offspring. As the poet and medical doctor Seema Yasmin puts it, “Eight percent of your genome/ is viral – we are literal cousines of ancient pathogens /wretched offspring of pandemics.” What if we all share just one body – a body that stretches across not just our egos and political philosophies and national borders, but even species?

When I asked disability activist Alice Wong about protests against wearing simple face coverings, she told me (through the BiPAP mask she’s worn twenty-four hours a day for years) that she just had to “wrap my head around why people don’t realize it’s no just for you. It’s for others. it just gets back to this very individualist culture” in the United States.

…… If we humans are going to survive pandemics from any virus – let alone if we are going to survive the existential climate crisis – we cannot do so while behaving as if each of our destinies were disconnected. It is not a bad thing to say we’re interdependent,” Alice continued, raising a concept foreign to many Americans. It requires courage and an acceptance of vulnerability to admit how SARS-CoV-2 has shown , as Alice put it, that “we are in the same soup. Exactly in the same soup and open to the same things. ” Our connection is not merely biophysical but cultural: This is about the invisible conditions that are swirling around us. In our air. In our atmosphere. Through our words.“

……in our minds as well.

to be continued ……

Yin Yang Symbol, Shadow Unconsciousness and Paying Karmic Deficits 7 – Wealth-Happiness Culture

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Namo Amituofo ! Merry Christmas to you all! May the holiday season brings you peace and enlightenment! Christmas reminds people of blessings and happiness, we may be confronted with economic down turn, can we still lead a happy life despite of inflation and economic depression? What is the relationship of exterior wealth and inner wealth? Let’s dwell into some details.

Merry Christmas to You All !

David Guy Myers is a professor of psychology and the author of 17 books. His book The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty explore the social development since 1960, while material affluence and human rights have surged, national civic health was falling. David’s overarching aim is to contribute to a new environmental movement—a social environmental movement—one seeking a social ecology that respects human rights while nurturing healthier individuals, families, and communities. With this end in mind he notes the social consequences of American materialism and individualism and points the way toward more positive values, economic policies, media influences, educational priorities, and faith communities. According to the on-going research since 1972 by University of Chicago on Americans’ outlook and emotional health trends in public opinion data from the General Social Survey (GSS), an ongoing project which NORC , American happiness is at a five-decade low. Despite modern technology has increased material wealth, emotional happiness is not something technology can help.

Anxiety and depression in children has drastically increased. Dr. Jean Marie Twenge is an American psychologist researching generational differences, including work values, life goals, and speed of development.  Her most recent book is iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood–and What That Means for the Rest of Us. Jean Twenge spoke of rising anxiety, depression, isolation and smartphones in Gen Z, and what that means for them and for leaders.

In Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, British economist Richard Layard asks: If we really wanted to be happier, what would we do differently? First we’d have to see clearly what conditions generate happiness and then bend all our efforts toward producing them. He went on to say that psychological problems and mental illness are amongst the biggest causes of misery. At a time when political action only seems to happen when we can attach a dollar cost and potential savings, he added that human suffering imposes severe burdens on the economy. At the same time we already have good evidence that the tools for dealing with all this psychological distress already exist. In his report he went on to propose that the United Kingdom needs 10,000 new cognitive behavioral therapists to make a major dent in all this suffering. What was different was that he went on to show that this expenditure made good economic sense.

Today, human beings tend to think of happiness as a natural right. But they haven’t always felt this way. For the ancient Greeks, happiness meant virtue. For the Romans, it implied prosperity and divine favor. For Christians, happiness was synonymous with God. Throughout history, happiness has been equated regularly with the highest human calling, the most perfect human state. Yet it’s only within the past two hundred years that human beings have begun to think of happiness as not just an earthly possibility but also as an earthly entitlement, even an obligation. In his book Happiness: A History, historian Darrin M. McMahon draws on a multitude of sources, including art and architecture, poetry and scripture, music and theology, and literature and myth, and argues that our modern belief in happiness is the product of a dramatic revolution in human expectations carried out since the eighteenth century.

An important concept in Buddhism and yogic philosophy teaches us that life in essence is Dukha, a Sanskrit and Pali word that can be translated to mean “suffering.” Included in Dukkha is all manner of unsatisfactoriness, from mild disappointment to the most extreme physical and emotional distress. Dukkha is something you must overcome in a lifetime to reach a higher stage in the next lifetime. The ultimate stage is called Nibbana (Nibbana (Pali), nirvana (Sanskrit)). Nibbana /Nirvana is ultimate peace and the goal of every Buddhist.

Below in a long series of seminars Professor Zeng Shiqiang illuminated to us the spiritual dimension of Wealth and how human can integrate it into their path of cultivation – Tao.

Chinese Wealth Culture
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（一）身心之外还有道; 一般人说到财神就认为是宗教或迷信；人禽之分，天地造人就是要人能够作用帮助天地去运行； 天的颜色跟人有关系，天气跟人有关系，天地人三合感应；天有天理（空性，无为，西方文化只相信看得见的东西， 不相信看不见的，所以他们的文明现在走不下去了），地有地理（风水），人有人理（良心， 现代的人忙到不知道有良心） 西方的理（法理，A rolling stone gathers no moss ；）是固定的，中国人的理（情理）是灵活的； 用心就是凭良心； 现代人有一点空闲都慌张，因为害怕面对自己； 现代人谁都不怕，就怕自己，所以只好埋头划手机； 现代的专家如果凭良心，后面的财团不答应； 近百年来，中华文化发生了断层，很多人盲目学习西方；
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（二）道德是最高信仰; 会做人的人才能做大事，不会做人的人一辈子做小事； 古人云，先做人后做事， 把做人看得比做事重要； 人之所以为人，做人是基本条件；人只求问心无愧； 老子说，人宠络你也没什么，侮辱你也没什么，问题在于自己心安； 人生不带来，死不带去是指看得见的东西，但是人的道德虽然不值得多少钱，是死后一定带走的。 有什么证据人有后世？ 现在科学已经证明人脑里有个“和子” 储存着所有的记忆； 你每世做什么，获得什么经验，都会记忆在里面； 现在把它叫做潜意识。 人要为自己的下辈子打点打点。 钱是你几辈子积累的福分，给你也不见得是好事； 你用了就空了，下辈子重头来； 尽人事- 任何事情都是反求诸己，听天命 – 结果是什么不在乎，我们不是因为要讨人好，或者是为了得什么名利才去做事的； 名利都是转眼成空的；追求名利是为了求生存而已； 有了就因当知足；
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（三） 用心学习才有德; 老子说，做人一辈子只要做到四个字就够了：尊道贵德。五十知天命是说到了五十你回头看，知道自己选对了没有；当人们不知如何抉择的时候，就会求神拜佛希望得到指引，神和魔是同体的，你用不正确的念头去拜佛，它用魔来对待你；你用良心去拜佛，菩萨才能用神的方式回应你； 一切自作自受；为什么正教搞不过邪教？ 道高一尺魔高一丈； 凡是有求必应的大多不是正神，因为它乐得接受你的膜拜，不受天理的约束，不顾一切，你求什么就给你什么。 什么都可以。 因为正教要守章法，邪教就不必了。守章法就不叫邪教了；
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（四）借鬼神提升道德;
Chinese Philosophy on the relationship of wealth and Tao.
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（五）恢复神的真面目; 你自己要看重自己，把自己看作正人君子，心要正，然后你去拜财神，财神才把正财给你，正财是老天给你的额度，邪财是魔财，魔财是会害死人的； 人一辈子能赚多少钱是定数，财神的功能就是忠实地记下你累世积累下来的财富，那个额度就相当你自己在银行的存款；你这辈子赚的钱其实是你累世积蓄的结果，你必须考虑要不要把累世积累的积蓄这辈子全部把它花光； 神明是不能违反天律的，就好像银行一定要按照国家的法令去执行，获罪于天，无所祷也。 不光是人要修道，神也要修道，不修它会被淘汰的，因为人与神都是在天底下努力地求上进；天人合一的意思是天底下万物都要修道； 这个修道与宗教没有关系；就是把自己的良心把它活化，因此神佛跟人一样，都不能违背天理。如果你的要求不合理，他不能答应你，否这就会获罪于天，天地之间有天网，天网恢恢i， 疏而不劳漏； 无为无不为，即一个人要在不违背天地之理的前提下，才可以有所作为； 神是在天底许可大范围之内， 他会协助人来明白道理。把宇宙的次序维护起来。 宇宙才能生生不息。
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（六）人人必经鬼门关; 人与人叫做人际关系， 人与机器叫做人机关系； 人与人比较容易对应因为会有感应。可是一碰到机器就呆了，因为机器是呆的。 人从哪里来，要到哪里去，这是全世界的人都关心的问题；鬼门关是永远在那里，而且是每个人必经之路。 我们来自“常道”- 绝对光明，绝对自由，绝对平等；我们来到这里， 活着就是“非常道”- 相对的光明，一定有黑暗；相对的自由，一定有受限制的部分；相对的平等，实际上不可能平等；死是回到绝对宇宙；活着是在相对宇宙；活着的时间其实很短，死后 – 千秋 – 才是我们更应该关心的； 争千秋而不争一时； 绝对不能自杀，自杀的后果是非常严重的；西方人说人生而平等，这句话是不正确的；人生前是平等，死后也平等，但是活着这几十年是不平等的；因为不平等你才会奋斗；现在你知道你读的书很多是错误的；但是因为要考试，你不得不背，但是大多数人不明了， 读书读错了，以为孔老夫子以礼教吃人，其实是搞错了；我们最好是自然生自然死，可是现代大多是插管，电击，先让你试试看地狱是什么滋味，然后再送你去。 今天的人都提前下地狱，我们一定要做到生无忧而死无惧；这样人生才有价值，要不然一辈子就是赚钱的工具，失去了做人的价值；生死由天（先天，累世的结果）不由人；中华文明是最了解人活着就是尽一份责任； 人生的责任就是上面奉养两代，下面教养两代； 所以一般人到了60岁基本做到了，剩下的就是感谢社会，回馈社会，这是为你往生以后打好基础； 能够顺利通过鬼门关； 神佛只是通过鬼门关比我们早，它们有这个经验，所以修到现在这个面貌；成为我们学习的榜样；所以我们不要迷信，要做早课，晚课，如活着要修功课；所以要严父慈母。 现代教育从下就告诉他计算机，太空旅行，都是跟孩子不贴切的东西；有什么用？所以中国人现在变成考试机器。考试起来很好，但是生活品质非常差；时间是无限的，但人的寿命是有限的，人生无常，也诸多无奈，我们必须在通过鬼门关之前使自己没有愧疚，心安理得，这是我们唯一的出路；我们不必害怕死亡，但是时时要小心，今日事今日毕，不要留后遗症在后面，搞得自己后悔不堪。 千万不要有投机取巧的想法，想着我先抢它一阵子，以后再慢慢弥补；我们所以的错误都是从这里开始的。
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（七）活着先过金钱关; 以前男人的责任是要养家糊口，女人的责任是要把家庭安顿好。 没有轻重，只有内外。男人拜财神，女人拜观音，就解决了。 现在人们有志一同，全部向钱看， 全部奔财神庙。 这样财神爷突然兴旺起来，因为多了一半人去拜它。所以金钱这关过不了，其他的不要谈了。 我们一生的关卡是自己安排的，绝对不是别人给我们设置的； 你静下来去想一想你为什么这么安排？ 孔夫子告诉我们，我们得到了五十岁才想得明白 -五十而知天命；有的人一辈子都没有过钱这一关；只有你不管什么时候脑子都在想钱，嘴巴都在谈钱，整天都在讲钱，money, money, money ….这在美国很平常的事，一打开电视，它绝对讲的都是钱；我们受这种影响太严重了；你什么时候不想钱，不谈钱，你应该庆幸你这关终于过了。 金钱不是万能，但是没有万万不能；我们为了生存，不能不与钱打交道；但是你要记住，钱永远是工具，永远是手段，绝对不是目的； 否则你就成了金钱的奴隶；但是人很可笑，发明了什么就变成什么大奴隶，宣宾夺主。比如手机，我们现在从小就变成手机的奴隶，有人没有父母没关系， 没有手机就没法活；古代的圣贤教导我们不为物役；可是今天我们心甘情愿做电脑，做手机的奴隶，做名牌的奴隶。高尔夫球就是来惩罚有钱人的。可用的土地很少，农田更是珍贵，你把它拿去给少数人浪费时间浪费生命的玩艺儿，完全没有良心。更要紧的，高尔夫球场是最污染的地方。 可是现在人利字当头，以为这样是现代化，是时髦。我们为什么要与财神爷打交道，就是要规范自己，知道赚钱取之有道，用之有方。 中国人之所以很神 (这样说不是骄傲，而是出于自豪），是因为我们有那么多那么好的圣贤遗训， 知道太多东西是西方人不知道的，是科学无法了解的。科学现在还没有办法到达这个地步， 不神才叫科学， 神了就不叫科学了。我们很神，头脑清楚，向财神学习，才知道怎样把财运用的很神。财神最怕你滥用财，因为这是它的职责。你必须要会用钱以后它才把钱给你。银行也慢慢在扮演现代财神的角色。 只不过它没有那么神。它只知道一点。 怎样用钱是要从小开始学习。 等到你有钱了就不会花钱了。所以孟子说：为富不仁。 你有钱，你不会用，用错了，老天这个不可以。所以妈妈的责任很重大。
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（八）财神是一个集团; 首先要清楚钱不是天上掉下来的，钱是我们累世所集的福德。你这辈子有多少财富，财库大不大，相当于在财神那里有多少存款。那么会不会流失，要怎么用， 宇宙是一个超大的信息场，每个人一生下来就有一个信息库。搞清楚明白了这些我们就不会做非分之想。 脑筋清楚是他的磁场很顺，如此而已，频率调对了，磁场对准了， 随时可以得到很多信息。神是无形无体的，最重要的是你跟他有没有感应。 没有感应就是没有缘。 就好像银行也有各种各样的，比如商业银行，农业银行，等等。你要找对银行，到时才方便， 就是这个道理。 五路财神，东南西北中，没有上下，，天上的，地下的是偏财，鬼财， 不是什么人都可以做的，你有那个缘，可以做，没有那个缘分，算了。我们只赚人间的财，正财， 其他的不要去想。 比较安全。 不是人间的财，就叫非分之财。 辛苦得来的才是真实的财富。 那个买空卖空的， 赚数字钱，你要特别小心，不踏实。，别人家愿意是人家的选择，我们没有权过问，但是你愿意子孙去做那个你要负一点责任的。 老实讲，金融危机绝不是搞会计，搞财务的，搞金融的人所能够做的出来的，这些人的脑筋没有那么好，都是学物理的，精算的。 美国的公司买卖其实很快就谈成了，资产有多少，要怎样买卖方式，多少现金，多少远期支票，最少谈一个礼拜，你知道真相吗？ 专业的一谈谈一个月，一年，收费高，时间短的不懂怎么赚钱，不专业。但是这些专业的所赚的钱不是东西南北中的钱，
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（九）明白财神的特征; 人有个体差异，财神也一样，另一种说法是财神本来也是人，虽大同小异，但他们多多少少也有一点差异性，因此我们要找磁场跟自己比较接近的，而不是说把所有的财神都当成同样的。这个观念与西方是很不一样的，西方的神只有一个，无所不知，无所不能，无所不在，但是我们不否认任何宗教的存在，任何宗教都有它内跟外的一种需求，我们要尊重，包容，但是我们要真的了解自己，为什么中国人直接通天， 就是因为我们很早就知道只有天它才无所不在，无所不能，无所不知。我们要敬畏神明。 孟子说，敬人者，人恒敬之。儒家还有 “道不同，不相为谋。“ 的说法。世界不管怎么变，有君子，就一定有小人。小人的价值就是让君子知道我毕竟跟你不同，就是因为我跟你不同，所以我才是君子。 所以孔子没有要我们消除小人。只叫我们远小人。用这种观念来看事情，那就符合《易经》的标准。 所以我们并不鼓励要疾恶如仇，我们并不鼓励要彻底消除黑暗，因为那是不可能的事情。拜神的时候，我们常常拜的是神皮魔骨。可是人的肉眼是看不清楚的。 我们必须告诉自己，你的眼睛是不可靠的，你的耳朵也是常常听错的，这才是事实真相。 神变了，变的原因不是它自己，而是人使他变了。我们每次讲到责任的归宿的时候，大家很清楚，都是人搞出来的。 你把你自己搞成这个样子， 把事件搞成这个地步！ 所以人一定要反省自己， 然后你才有办法调整对方。要改变任何事情，唯一的办法，有效的办法，就是改变自己。 没有人因为你的抱怨而改变，没有人因为你生气而改变。没有人因为你想尽办法他就会改变。没有。你一改变，他就改变。 这个方法非常简单。 你要教小孩，你怎么说他都没有用，你告诉他不要这样不要那样， 他根本不会听。你跟神打交道，要提出合理要求，但是我们经常过分：我现在急着要周转钱，银行贷款不灵，朋友借不到，我的资金链快断了，你三天之内给我五百万，神在那里笑了。平时不烧香，临时报佛脚。财神看你很陌生，一来就要求这么高，算了，我懒得理你。这是必然的。只是他不说话，你又感应不到，然后你更加怨它。你在那里想它我这么求你，你都不帮忙，那你算什么财神。结果这位财神唯一的办法就是，一看到这个人，它就闪了，躲了。 魔就进来，他就答应你了。真的有求必应。 你就得到魔的帮助，就叫魔附身，神是不必附在任何人身上的，它从旁指点你，你向它学习，你模仿他， 你自然就神起来了。快乐不快乐永远是你自己可以决定的。可是你偏偏不要，神绝对比我们清楚，所以叫神明。我们看自己真的很糊涂， 永远看不清自己的真面目。神一看就清楚。我们常常陷入孔子讲的自己骗自己。所以大家要常常反省自己。 人最大的麻烦就是持续不断地找自己的麻烦。所以都是落难的。你看经济发生波动的时候，就那产业做的最大的人最惨。产业做的小的他觉得没有什么。 魔对企图心很强，对那种老动歪脑筋的，对那种非常有魄力的，对那种很会游走法律边缘的人，他最有兴趣。 因为那样才显得魔的威力。 曾仕强先生没有反对做大，人本来就应该要做大的，但是你要记得，你做的事跟你的能量要相配合。你有多大能耐，你可以向财神要求多大。可是我们实在没有能力知道。所以我们最安全的就是怀着感谢之心敬拜神明。神明如果发现给我们的不足，自然会补上。老祖宗给我们的东西，都是最安全，最方便，最合理，不复杂的。 我们现在的学校学的都是搞得很复杂。那种人就读死书。把自己脑筋读死了。学呆了。孔子从来都是因才施教，因为每个人处境不同，资质不同，当前的需求不一样，你怎么可能讲得明确。 你相信自己就`必须知道人是有局限性，你照顾不了方方面面。 其实运气好就是神拉你一把。
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（十）先做财神得同道; 公道自在人心；中国各地供奉的财神，各有不同，有的供关公（忠义，曹操的笼络分文不取），有的供范蠡 (几次散尽家财又重新赚进来），有拜胡雪岩，（他不认为自己是个商人， 把赚来的钱去支援左宗棠，收回新疆， 建立海军， 功在国家民族），这些人中有文臣，有武将。泰山石敢当，姜太公。他没有被封成神，但所有神都不如他神。至于姜太公什么时候变财神，也是老百姓认定的。所有的财神都有一个共同的特点：孝敬父母，那是最起码的基本要求。这个社会是不忠不义的，因为我们普遍感觉不忠不义才要供奉关公，哪一天关公被大家当做朋友看待，不是当作神的时候，就表示我们已经慢慢忠义起来了。这才是对神的一个正确的认识。忠义你的国家，忠于你的工作，忠义你的团体，外国人是没有这个观念的。你问美国人你忠于你的公司吗？他的回答只有一个字：Ridiculous! 不能因为西方人这样，我们就把忠义去掉了。我们对朋友要忠（否则就不要答应他的要求），对事情要忠，对公司要忠 （所以不能完全听老板的，老板不对的，你要再三劝告）。 忠臣一多表示这个时代太乱，因为乱才需要那么多忠臣。 太平盛世不需要忠臣。这些都是相当的。《易经》教会我们这些道理。现在科学发达，到处都是怪力乱神。有什么都要尽量秀出来，害怕吃亏， 那是西方人。中国人是合理的露，而不是全盘的露。现在的人太粗浅，完全没有智慧，还要到处去谈论是非。 鬼主意神是不做的，不要做财神不喜欢的人，从这样你就知道怎样自律。一个自法律的人，就拥有充分的自由。
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（十一） 自己求合理应变; 财神不仅仅是让我们膜拜祈求的，财神是让我们把它当作一面镜子；言行要一致；外面环境时时在变，人事物不停地在变，时时要看不同等人，不同的形态，然后做不同的调整。 要适度地依赖，而不是完全依赖财神；否则你拜它干什么？ 先把自己该做的做好；自己做好了，财神自然会照顾你，不用你说的。神明是来服务人间的，因此我们对老天有信心，对神明有信心；古人教我们的都是基于教化的方便， 安全和有效。寺庙是教化的场所，你要遵守那里的礼节，以这个恭敬之心去参加那里的活动。 你有时间就去当义工，有余钱就去奉献，让祠庙的能量增加；但是量力而为，不必勉强。只要你谨守本分，谨守礼节，神明就会合理地对待你。你在道场里把这套磨练，然后出来跟任何人相处也都是有道理的。 纯正的道场，你可以放心地跟他来往，道长凭良心为大众服务，你也凭良心跟他所供奉的财神做合理的交流。
  • 曾仕强—财神文化（十二） 德本财末才合道;

In pursuit of happiness requires we to address issues self-denial such as drug abusing, alcoholism, gambling addictions etc bad habits which block us with in touch with our authentic true self. Full of excellent practical advice, insight, and some very useful exercises, Kevin Griffin’s One Breath at a Time – Buddhism and the Twelve Steps show us a good way to heal from the addictions. Unlike many of our best and most revered Buddhist teachers, Mr. Griffin hasn’t spent years living in Asia. He’s slogged through life in Western society, and has had to find his peace and insights while simultaneously dealing with the same day-to-day problems of career, love, marriage, parenthood, etc. as the rest of us. In a wise and honest way, Griffin presented the Buddhist instructions for meditation practice spoken in the idiom of Twelve Steps Recovery Program and empower the people with the hand-on possibility of freedom from addiction.

Surrender Steps:

First, a surrender to the truth of our disease and our inability to control it; then surrendering to a Higher Power, seeing that we will have to depend on something besides our own will and knowledge to stay sober and develop spiritually. As we enter the process, we often find that surrender is the battle itself – with drugs and alcohol, with the world, with ourselves – that has cripple us in many ways. in this case, surrender becomes preferable to going on fighting. Surrender is a traditional element of every spiritual journey. Before we can begin to realize our potential, we must break out of limiting concepts of who and what we are and what we think is possible. This may mean giving up long-held beliefs and comfortable behavior patterns. Cynicism， our fantasy, fear or control, anger or grief – many of us cling to these patterns and others. When we begin to surrender, we see that we will have to let go of these destructive habits of mind before we can move toward freedom. While many people tend to think of spirituality as looking up, toward the heights of perfection or saintliness, the Steps remind us that we must first look down, into the darkness of our souls, and see and accept our shadow before we attain an honest and authentic spiritual life.

  • Step One: admit we were powerless, but not helpless, over alcohol that our lives had become unmanageable;
  • Step Two: Come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity; the self is an illusion made up of thoughts, emotions, memories that have no center, no abiding core. To rely on this illusory amalgam is to live in delusion, to mistake the movie of our minds for Truth. Have trust and confidence in the 3rd Noble Truth, reorient us toward a less self-centered life and open to new possibilities.
  • Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him (If we make certain choices, we get certain results). Commit to sobriety itself; then commit to the program and the Steps; commit more deeply to Buddhist practice. Take Refuge in the Buddha! Learn the middle-way to balance between faith(openheartness) and wisdom (discrimination).

How It honestly Works Steps:

These steps are linked to the meditative processes of examining the mind, of letting go of these blocks to clarity, and of healing ourselves and others. As we investigate and take responsibility for our past actions and our continuing habits of mind, the light of truth shine on the shadowed recesses of our lives, and a new freedom imbues us with confidence and joy, as shame is banished and we are no longer dogged by secrets and guilt.

  • Step Four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. This is most difficult step – willingness to admit our failing and can be wrenching, awkward, agonizing. As the self-hatred that results in alcoholism can make this process difficult. Master Thick Nhat Hanh encourage us to also make an inventory of our positive qualities and actions, we must find joy in our lives here and now. Appreciate our positive strength and take pleasure in putting time and energy to adhere to 8-fold path in life.
  • Step Five: Admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  • Step Six: Get ready to have God remove all defects of character, letting go of many attachments: attachment to material things and sense pleasure; attachment to views and opinions; attachment to relationships; attachment to your body, your thoughts, your sense of identity.
  • Step Seven: once we build a strong foundation for sobriety, asking God to take away our defects of character so that we can be more useful in the world and do “God’s will.” It is a process, get vigilant to pitfalls of Perfectionism, Procrastination and Paralysis.
  • Step Eight: At a deeper level of honesty to consider and made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. Do not confuse living alone and limiting human contact to do solitude for meditation practice as the most spiritual behavior. The willingness to face pain – internally and externally – awakens love and compassion.
  • Step Nine: Make direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Cleaning up our lives in this way is critical to the Buddhist path. Forgiving others, being forgiven, and forgiving ourselves.

Steps cultimnating of the spiritual path:

Here we try to thoroughly integrate the work we’ve done into our lives. We learn to maintain the honesty and responsibility we developed in the earlier Steps, to deepen our spiritual connection, and to serve others. Buddhism teaches that the real value of the spiritual life isn’t found in moments of great bliss but in the daily application of mindfulness and loving kindness. it’s our ongoing effort that is most important to our spiritual development. We can’t rest on yesterday’s clam and insight, we must renew our commitment and energy each day. These Steps are the cornerstones of maintenance. They are also the bridge to a life that is “happy, joyous and free.” Our spiritual awakening brings liberation, as we enter a new life, one free from the encumbrances of addition, and one guided by the principles of wisdom and compassion.

  • Step Ten: Continue to take personal inventory and when we are wrong promptly admit it. Recognize the opportunities for spiritual development that are in our lives right now, and acknowledging as well those qualities that aren’t growing at this time.
  • Step Eleven: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. Buddhism is an orthopraxy: it adheres to a set of practices, through which you can come to your own understanding, not one imposed from the outside. Make conscious and explicit our highest aspirations.
  • Step Twelve: having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we try to carry this message to other alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. Retreat is NOT the only meaningful form of practice. Don’t just do these stuff at special times, do it all the time.

Namo Amituofo! Merry Christmas! To our happiness and enlightenment !

Yin Yang Symbol, Shadow Unconsciousness and Paying Karmic Deficits 2 – Frauds in Government and Insanity in Market Economic Theory

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In a country that value freedom of speech, Americans argue heatly about government/big tech/media censorship. But when I came to think about it, isn’t that everything we think, we say, we act have all reflected in the totality of universal consciousness that permeates everywhere? And each of us is a miniature of the cosmo and the cosmo is the Source/Origin of our mind. In the ultimate reality, censorship holds no power. 人是小宇宙，宇宙大身心， 人体与宇宙是一一对应的，宇宙中有什么，人体也相对应着有什么，人体相当于一个缩小版的微宇宙。 “All is sentient being. Grass, trees, land, sun, moon, and stars are all mind.” ~ Dogon, founder of Soto Zen Buddhism. 

Such is the mystics! Science, physics, and spirituality are at last meeting each other through the search for universal consciousness. Scientists want to know why flocks of birds behave as if guided by a collective consciousness. Physicists are learning that non-local consciousness influences quantum particles, regardless of distance in time and space. Yogis, mystics, and meditators seek to enter into a state of wholeness with the divine or the universal mind, called Chaitanya, the cosmic consciousness.  人的意念能量有多強大？

The ideas of impermanence, interdependence and emptiness are central to Buddhist teaching – and to the whole Buddhist worldview view, there can be no true freedom or independence when we are trapped in the six lower worlds. Interdependence is not the same thing as being codependent. A codependent person tends to rely heavily on others for their sense of self and well-being。The Lotus Sutra teaches that all people equally possess the ten worlds. That is, we all possess the ten kinds of life conditions — from the highest state of Buddhahood to the lowest state of hell. These are the life conditions of the four noble worlds and the six paths. The life condition of Buddhahood moves one to improve the world. Such a person will love and cherish others, have a strong sense of justice, value peace, build a character with a deep sense of compassion, gain the trust of many people, and make others feel pleasant. On the contrary, one who is fascinated by devilish functions will become contentious and steeped in evil influences. Such an individual has a self-centered nature and takes pleasure in disruptive behavior. A person like this, with egocentric and biased views, will bring conflict and spread anger into society.

常说：君子要自强不息，又说，人要顺其自然，那到底是要努力还是不努力呢？ 其实这句话的意思是：人要顺应自然规律，才能自强不息，丝毫没有矛盾。 自然规律就是人即是个体，必须学会自给自足 (自我精神的成长），又同时是整体的一部分，又必须 与外在环境相依相存。恶行的根本原因在于无明，即不知苦集灭道之智；在无明的笼罩下，贪爱或嗔会在对境产生感受后集起。因此无明、贪、嗔也被称为恶行的根源；在佛陀教法中，真正意义上的无漏善行是四念处。修行四念处可超越愁与悲，灭没苦与忧，是解脱的方法，最终能够达到涅槃 – 止息无明灭尽的缘故，贪、嗔永远不再会形成，因此永远不会造作恶行，故而苦也绝对不会形成——这也是佛陀教法最终的目的。电视连续剧【百年虛雲】片断：不戒貪嗔癡　煩惱何時休！西方極樂丹。

And that is why Confucius teaches us absolute ethics standard, (not ethical relativism). The Eightfold path is so important because that is what we contribute to the universal consciousness – be it greed or generosity, hatred or loving kindness,, ignorance or wisdom, arrogance or humility, all the dynamics will reflect in the totality of the universal mind. That is how each of us contribute to the quality of the collective karma.

With that in mind, let us pay homage to Amitufa – Buddha of Infinite Light & Infinite Life, Buddha of infinite blessing and protection! Nomo Amituofo! Let wish the peace and salvation of humanity to expand our conscious and grow in wisdom. 唸一句“阿彌陀佛”有多少好處？佛已說了10種！ 世間最安穩的“護身符”，其實就是一句“南無阿彌陀佛”！ 南无阿弥陀佛！南无阿弥陀佛！南无阿弥陀佛！

We have all experience many corruption and conspiracy in every areas of the government, the relentless pollution and exploitation of the Earth, the lost of common sense and fundamental ethics in social conducts the last several decades with the material abundance. Thom Hartmann had wrote a whole series to record many of the issues that block out progress and the toxics that need to purified before we can be refreshed to new beginnings. But to just have intellectual understanding is a good beginning, we need to put into our thought, speech and action to clear those bad habits, garbages from our mind by meditation and prayer. I am really impressed with his analyse about Neolibralism is a DISASTER, the sick mentality of the rich had no consideration of their fellow citizens for basic safety net (the homeless, the single mothers, the collapsing of education system, the border crisis of thousands, if not millions of under age kids, the human trafficking ). How REAGAN REPUBLICANS Flushed America Down The Toilet.

Piercing through the frog of neoliberalism, Hartman spoke of the insanity of Milton Friedman and the like-minds. The rise of economic and financial terrorism, the upheaval of economic instability in American and the world can traced back to Reagan Administration and Friedman’s shock therapy economics, which was acclaimed by the media as the super star nobel prize level innovation. Public have no idea the policies and devastating consequences Milton Friedman and the likes produced. His theory seems out of touch with lived reality or normal people’s economic experience, and 100% based on ideology & things he read in textbooks from other people in an ivory tower. Or if not, then plain Psychopathy. He said all licenses and certificates (including license for doctors) should be dropped as well as labor unions and laws against racial discrimination. Milton said there is no need for government to make sure drugs are safe. It is thought provoking to watch Young Michael Moore discuss the value of human life with Milton who had been evading the question of principle.

This has been a road of harden capitalism rather than a road of “good” intentions; Monopolies was all about saving the upper class from the “unwashed.” Period. We observed the collapse of Chilean economy in 1970s, Russia in the 1990s are the application of Milton Friedman theory. Despite all the talks of free market, the truth of USA is not a FREE MARKET. Professor Michael Hudson have a lot to share with you. Through these schemes, the elites had looted the majority public $50 Trillion dollars in the last few decades. REPUBLICANS Legalized STOCK FRAUD in America.

斷貪瞋痴，從哪裡下手？ 佛教講的“五毒心”有多毒，為什麼“毒”！怎樣對治？为什么是排除贪嗔痴，而非与这些情绪和平相处呢？它们也是生命的一部分，为何不是不排斥，不抗拒，更不沉溺？海涛法师佛学问答。【秒懂楞嚴 #280日】色塵圓通–日常生活舉例 (優波尼沙陀即從座起。…色因為上。) 贪心- 修不净观；愚痴- 修因缘观； 嗔心- 修慈悲观。 見輝法師讲解【秒懂楞嚴 #219日】 地水火風的糾纏、五濁的惑亂…為視為聽。為覺為察。如何破妄識非心 見輝法師。 How to Deal With Inner Aversion in Buddhism Practices。

Wish you peace and wise this holiday season! 南无阿弥陀佛！南无阿弥陀佛！南无阿弥陀佛！

In Search for Functional Government in the Era of Modern Globalization 4 Sickness as Symptom of Western Culture Mental Collapse

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President Andrew Jackson created Democratic Party, which is regarded as the oldest political party in the world. At his time there was a massive problem of corruption in the government and on every action taken by the administrations. Jackson established the party along with numerous other supporters with the objective of economic equality, the welfare state, fair government regulation in the economy, environmental protection, and support of labour and the unions. And he made good use of the Veto power based on the political grounds instead of the constitutional grounds.

Today there is a total systematic corruptions on both parties in American politics. From numerous situations and cases, people began to recognize the deceptive nature of the political elites and system. The democrats are using their self-imposed status as the party of the people to manipulate us because they feel they have the moral high ground to do so. We watched how those who were elected to serve the people enter the political sphere with modest means and good intentions and exit multi-millionaires with a closet full of skeletons. The culture of corruption is on a roll.

Even worse Democratic party are leading some dark and horrifying development. For example, a lawmaker in Virginia called Elizabeth Guzmani is introducing a bill that will charge parents who are not wholeheartedly endorse their minor children’s sex change whims, if you object to the kid’s request to have a mastectomy, send you to jail. Another example is the recent liberals’ use of Fetterman in Philadelphia midterm election – one of the most famous politicians in the country merging with computer(it is said he had brain damage) – this is the future technocratic have imagined, the most cynical political move in US history. Where exactly is the software end and the John Fetterman’s consciousness begin? Pennsylvania could very well be sending one of the computer program to the senate which will inevitably be hacked. What is more irony is, for a long stretch lasting well into his 40s, Fetterman’s main source of income came from his parents. Alas the New York Times told its reader, who did not know better, that Fetterman turned his a blasted town into national symbol of hope, hard work, and authentic blue jeans.

One more issue – we lost a hundred thousand Americans in drug abuse, just last year, mostly are young people, and many hundreds of thousands over the past five years. And yet when was the last time we see politicians mention about fighting for people with drug additions and their families ? We have just a reversal of Roe vs. Wade, yet there is no mention of protection or supporting of the single moms and their baby, in the media or politician’s speech. The left has created a breakdown in law and order and fail to do things that improve American life, as a result many social disadvantaged groups are put under stress and deranged by the dysfunctional system which the left has turn a blank eye to. Then in 2016, the liberals can no longer say “Give us 50 years, we will turn Baltimore into Geneva!” Many liberals’ wild ideas which were based on delusions fall flat face. Every single liberal enthusiasm failed, from money illusion of Friedman monetary policy to market economy, from radical feminism to urban renewal, from out-sourcing to shared economy, each and every one turned out to be disaster. After all these, are they now going to jump on board of AI and planting computer chip to human as the next fad? One reader commented that there is more sheep in this country than people who love this country and love the Lord !!

Richard D. Wolff | America’s Major Tax SCAM , reminds people that President Roosevelt in the state of union speech in 1944, a time of war, had proposed the top income tax bracket to the richest people he was in favor was 100%. What that meant was every dollar over $25K (that was the cut off amount then, would be about $380K-$390K now) will sent government. Eventually it was settled at 94% with the support from both Republican and Democratic. After Roosevelt passed away, the top bracket remained above 90% for the next 20 years. Even in 1970s, it was at 70%. In 1945, for every dollar tax from individuals, government also get $1.5 from corporations. The total from corporations was 50% more than from individuals.

Today for every dollar tax from individuals, corporations turn in 25 cents. And we have a top personal tax bracket at 37%, and many corporations evade taxes by hiring top accountants to take advantage of loop holes. 60 Top Corporations Paid $0 Federal Taxes Under Trump Tax Law. And we know many corporations use the cash to buy back stock to boost their executives compensation packages and reward investors who benefits tremendously from loosing Federal Reserve Bank monetary policies since the Green Span, Bernanke years. As a result the last 50 years witnessed the rolling back the tax on corporate and shift on individuals, and rolling back the tax on wealthy individuals and put it instead to all the less advantaged.

The Chris Hedges Report interviewed with Richard Wolff on the issue of Inflation, Europe’s energy crisis, and the Fed. Professor Wolff said, price went up because the people who had the power raise them, and our government had not protected the consumers. A tiny minority of American, a less than one percent who are employers, that is the corporate employers, one after another, raised the prices, and imposed the inflation on the rest of us. It is of course reasonably to ask why employers raise price, they raise price to make profit. The problem is, the employers are very tiny minority, and we the consumers are the majority. They make up excuses like supply chain disruption issues, the Chinese delayed because of COVID-19 related concerns, or just because other people are raising the price. The American media overwhelmingly service the employer class by giving enormous attention and exaggeration to all the excuses they claimed, with minimal investigative scrutiny, and almost never point out to Americans, that what you grumbled about supermarket or department store are the decisions made by a small unaccountable minority looking to make more profits. There are a lot of providential support that inflation are going together with nice corporate profitability improvements.

The Europeans are paying a heavy financial price for the war in Ukraine, but here in American, the power that be are leading the charge to the sanction of Russia for oil and gas export. The Russians might very well come up with counter sanctions of their own, which together with sanctions from the west, drive up the total cost of energy, especially for the Europe. The discriminatory impact of the sanction program on Europe, as well as the subsidize program on industry here in United States put Europe in jeopardy. In addition, the Ukraine are suffering from proliferation of winter weather and the energy facilities damage from war.


…. more to come ….

In Search for a Functional Government in the Era of Modern Globalization 3 – the Virus, Homeless, Drug Addicts Come Along the Collapse of Industrial Civilization and its Way of Life

Posted on by PathFinder

We just have crisis one after another here in United States. The police and fire stations are short funded, they had to call around soliciting donations; hospital nurses are short paid; while there is an surging emergency of children under 5 years hospitalized get respiratory virus because of influenza shot. School teachers are short paid and so many teens get depressions of brain damage post pandemic; Homeless is everywhere. The health care industry and insurance had spent billions of government budget every year because of mismanagement. And and spent trillions and trillions on the war. It is no wonder people said United States is a country disguised as a civilization.

Among all these crisis, numerous analyst had been talked about the financial crisis because of over spending. One of them is Peter Schiff who had warned of 2008 crisis, and now he is calling out immediate danger. No one want to pay taxes, IRS is chasing after the middle class and the poor, alas letting the most wealthy taking advantage of tax loopholes. For someone as poor as me, would you believe i got audited for no less than five times in the last 10 years? They country is in 31 trillion of debts, and yet Who would have thought staying out of debt and living within your means still makes sense? Shouldn’t the government cut down staff? Ironically, our newly elected government is going to spent more?! Everyone is spending like no tomorrow.

The military sector of the government benefits the most from war, no wonder USA had a twenty year war in middle east that spent more than the Marshall Plan, and now again in Ukraine. We see government passing a law proving the homosexual marriage! So much insanity going on and so many things violating divine law! I used to feel anger to watch things like these going on, but after study Buddhism, I just felt sad and sorry for the ignorance of the people who committed various crime. Because God had told us what not to do in the Bible. Buddha warned of people not to commit killing, lying/cursing, sexual misconduct, and stealing. The universal law of reciprocal always lead to the law of cause and effects. Do not be blind sighted by short term gains.

United State Government constantly talks about rule-based order, it doesn’t talk about the international law based order with its Center at the United Nations, the vague concept of rule-based order is one in which United States makes the rules and orders everyone around. It is a vision of fraudulent western order dominated by Western hegemony when Americans basically do whatever they want including redefine the rule as they see fit. Former French ambassador to the United States has come out publicly and criticized the U.S government for constantly violating international law with this practice of double standard and hypocrisy. French President Macron just visited U.S hoping to get his people lower price in gas. Since we already had a budget deficit, what is the reason to subsidize car American industry while consumer can buy good quality cars at good price from Europe? We can also potentially have European factories produce car here and so many more jobs opening here in USA. It does not make sense. People talked about green energy car, but the battery we are using now causes a lot of pollution, according to some experts. Japan had known about this as early as 1990s. With majority of the population live pay check to pay check, who would have money to buy new cars anyway?

It is said that we have a government that is in complicit with the corruption in China. without censorship, the Democratic Party can’t continue to hold power. Fox News host Tucker Carlson spoke of the bombshell report Elon Musk released about Twitter’s censorship of the Hunter Biden story. Twitter was permanently censoring users at the request of the DNC and Biden campaign. In another Tucker Carlson Tonight show, Tucker Carlson calls out ‘sexual mutilation’ of children and media coverage of the Colorado Springs shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub, on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’ The D.A let a dangerous criminal go free eventually led to the shooting that killed many more people.

In Search for Functional Government in the Era of Modern Globalization – Theories on Where the Government Power Come From ?

Posted on by PathFinder

Observing American democracy experiment of the last 240 years, and this recent midterm election, again more and more theatrical performance and embarrassment were displayed before the public. Election debate maybe sometimes a good way for the public to see different perspective and get more understanding for issues. But the deterioration of the quality of candidates and lacking of systematic way to select government officers, had make such platforms more like a show business rather than evaluation of true competence.

Thus these elections become a waste of time/resources/energy. Even worse, it actually prove the antithesis of government, and spread distrust of governance, which is what those advocate for small government are seeking for. And with such huge disparage of power and wealth, the general public has no reason and no resource to waste any way when had so much emergency needs that need their immediate attention.

For millenniums, people argue about where the source of power come from. Initially was the theory of Divine Right of Kings, Enlightenment Movement brought along the concept of “social contract theory”, which says that people live together in society in accordance with an agreement that establishes moral and political rules of behavior, the right to rule come from people. Now with quantumn physics, we also know nature had a right for itself as well – the Divine right of Nature. When human’s activities upset the nature balances, Nature will turn against us, just take the example of the polluted water source and earth penalize human being’s violation of the nature law.

So a civilized society does need good governance. Just like people need traffic light for the smooth operation of clearance. That was why after witness the brutality of war, Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan, to set out his doctrine of the foundation of states and legitimate governments and creating an objective science of morality.  Much of the book is occupied which demonstrating the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid the evil of discord and civil war. The destruction of French Revolution proved Thomas Hobbes’ insight has its point. The Great Britain civil war under Oliver Cromwell made England republic only for a very short period known as the Interregnum from 1649 to 1660. The numerous wars and eventually the WWI and WWII proved Rousseau’s argument does not seem to hold.

And contrary to John Locke theory, Human does not have total control of its destiny. He unconsciously dream walk under the influence of karma. However he can defy the gravity of karma to a certain degree by the sheer will of his own effort. We existed in spiritual form before we were born into this physical world to learn spiritual lessons. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”  Buddhism core value teaches us about THE THREE UNIVERSAL TRUTHS, we each is a miniature of the cosmos Source. Our ultimate path is to return to the Source by attaining spiritual enlightenment :

  1. Nothing is lost in the universe ( form is Emptiness; Emptiness is form)
  2. Everything Changes (Impermance)
  3. The Law of Cause and Effect (Dukka, Karma, Samsara)

Ultimately governance is to establish and maintain orders, macro, meso and micro. It is also a service. Not only the most disadvantaged group really needs the help, but a functional society need social customs and a code of conduct to run smoothly. And those orders bring harmony, balance and peace. When the ruling class does not have the welfare of its people in mind, it disrupt such balance and the status quo will not last long. Because the world belong to the public (天下为公)，small group of people can in short time control resources and wealth for their selfish benefits. History had numerous lessons of downfall of dynasties. Good governance requires learning of maturity, wisdom and true service. And those qualities depend on the consciousness development about privilege and obligations.

从孔孟思想到陆王心学，儒家思想是如何贯穿中国封建社会两千年的

Confucianism’s Four Book and Five Classics (《四书五经〉） layout a framework of the relationship between people in family, community and government. A set of practices including not only education, but selection of officers through imperial exam at each level of government. This talent selection system had been working well since 6th century to the late 19th century, and provide a foundation of individual character development and social stability. 《儒家政治理论及其现代价值》一书比较了民主思想和民本思想的不同。对儒家政治理论中的宗法精神与鬼神观念、家国理论、君主集权理论、君权运作理论、德政理论、纲常理论、人才思想、臣道观、民本思想等都进行了阐释，提出了有价值的见解 。以孔子为代表的儒家学派是“入世”理念的实践者，他们提倡积极的人生态度，希望对社会发展做出自己的贡献。在这个前提下，民本思想的基本功能则是在肯定君主统治合法性和专制制度合理性的前提下，通过对拥有绝对权力的统治者的道德启发实现官民双方的互利互惠。作者认为民主思想对人类的政治制度建构和政治文明建设做出了巨大贡献， 而从民本思想中发展不出现代社会的民主思想。

王守仁接受了陆九渊的“心即理”学说，完成了心学体系，提出“心外无物，心外无理”，认为身之主宰便是心，心之本体便是理，心之所发便是意，意之所在便是物，心外无物。认为“心”与“理”合一，不可分离。

黄俊杰：“儒家民主政治”如何可能？——从当代新儒家出发思考一文则探讨了儒家式民主政治之可欲性与可能性，认为徐复观构想中的儒家式民主政治，在理论上之困难在于过度注重“积极自由”而忽视“消极自由”，并且未赋予人民以平等的参政权，儒家以社群为中心的道德观忽视个人权利；而在实践上的困难则在于忽视自耕农阶级在现代商业资本主义社会中的脆弱性。本文指出，儒家式民主政治的提法有其创见，但不免有“时代错误“之嫌。

王守仁（心学集大成者）与孔子（儒学创始人）、孟子（儒学集大成者）、朱熹（理学集大成者）并称为孔、孟、朱、王。王守仁的学说思想王学（阳明学），是明代影响最大的哲学思想。他是明代著名的思想家、文学家、哲学家和军事家，精通儒家、道家、佛家, 是心学集大成者。他一生文治武功俱称于世，集立德、立功、立言于一身，被誉为“真三不朽”者，他的心学对明后期哲学与文艺影响巨大，其影响一直延续到近代而且传播中外。在中国历史上，称为“两个半圣人”，即孔子、王阳明和曾国藩，孔子和王阳明各占其一，曾国藩只算半个（曾国藩：靠山山倒，靠人人跑，人生只有两件事靠得住…）。王阳明的心学与佛教异曲同工，对现代社会的诟病将有巨大的启示。

Modern society is showing the many signs of demise of the predatory, outdated system that is capitalism which the theory of democracy is based on. According to new polling, just half of young Americans hold a favorable view of capitalism. This tracks with other, similar polls, but why is it happening? What is it about capitalism that is so unappealing to young people? Some statistics give some insight. At the end of 2022’s first quarter, Americans age 70 and above had a net worth of nearly $35 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. That amounts to 27% of all U.S. wealth, up from 20% three decades ago. Americans at retirement age had a median wealth 19 times that of those in the under-35 age group. The median American net worth picks up after age 35. Americans between 35 and 44 years old had a median net worth of $91,110, six-and-a-half times that of those under 35. How the Baby Boomers Ruined Society in America explain some of the reasons.

The modern education focus on skill rather than character cultivation, secularization total mislead human about the ultimate purpose of life. Individualism take over as the guiding principles. Anne Ryan’s objectivism replace Bible as this modern mentality dominate the mindset of society, especially the elite class. Computer information revolution turned out strengthen the western reductionist way to thinking. Break down of social relationships at level of family, community pull the rug out from under the very foundation of society, leading the civilization into dead end. That is how urgency we need to return to classical teaching of truth – Confucius and Buddhism, and Bible.

Meanwhile the middle class has seen modest growth of 7 percent in their net worth since 1995, it has not yet recovered to its previous peak in 2007. This tepid recovery is driven by declines in home-ownership and stock market participation since 2007—if you do not hold assets, you cannot benefit from recovery in asset prices. Michael Hudson discussed in his book The Destiny of Civilization: Finance Capitalism, Industrial Capitalism or Socialism: The world economy is fracturing into two powerful groups of nations, with very different philosophies and objectives. Hudson answers our questions about the repercussions. “Globalization is on its deathbed,” says economist Mike O’Sullivan.。 In The end of globalization, The question now is: What’s next? Tracing the historical successes and failures of globalization, O’Sullivan forecasts a new world order where countries come together over shared values rather than geography. Learn how big regional powers like the United States and China will be driven by distinct ways of governing trade, technology and people — while smaller nations will forge new alliances to solve problems.

After industrial capitalism, financial capitalism, is civilization heading into state capitalism? Globalization causing extreme unbalanced wealth distribution. Everybody desire for the benefits of globalization, but thug away the responsibility of maintenance. All want to transfer the cost to other. And thus war is a constant result of dispute. The war in Ukrainian for example, is another indication that the implication can be including nuclear destruction. According to Professor Jeffery Sach, U.S government had agreement with USSR in 1990 to not expand NATO to Russia’s border. Alas just in 30 years, NATO had expanded five times to put pressure on Russia, causing Putin to threat the usage of nuclear weapon. Similar situation happened with Iran, North Korea.

U.S had weaponize the dollar and economic sanctions to these countries, causing tensions of relationship and constant threat of outbreak of war. The Hopi prophecies are coming true — here’s why we should pay attention. The prophecies’ warnings about Western man’s way of life is out of balance with the Creator’s Law. An indigenous group has disappeared every year since 1900. What unique and immemorial relationship with existence has humanity expunged in the name of progress? The answers are starting to haunt civilization in ways we cannot measure.

Master Chanlu from Taiwan has very insightful observation of the democratic election and politics in general. The bottom line of all these election is not to help the help the general citizens, rather it is just shows to cover the hidden agendas. Although he is talking about Taiwan, it is generally enough to apply to human nature and society with such underpins. I wrote down the excepts here. 常律老和尚精湛開示錄 常律老和尚谈到三纲五常，长幼有序，要长治久安不是靠政府，而是靠佛弟子。 从蒋经国之后，李登辉，阿扁，马英九，蔡英文四任总统，我们可以确定一个真相，台湾谁来当总统都已经一样了。民进党，国民党，执政党，在野党来当都一样。都是以政党利益为优先考量。 他们绝对不会去考虑人民的福祉。 所以以后选总统都不要去选了。 浪费时间。 选谁都没有用了。这是可以确定的。台湾总统一代不如一代了， 越来越糟糕。 我们不要梦想未来会出明君，常律老和尚说他可以铁定预言台湾不可能再有明君出现。 只要有两党存在就不可能。

因为台湾的民主政治不成熟。不成熟的民主， 你却去采取美国几百年的政治的那一种模式，套用在台湾，行不通。 你要像新加坡这样，李光耀总理看到民主政治不成熟， 他不敢大胆的改变那么快速。 台湾的民主才有几年，却拿美国，英国那种自由民主来套用在台湾政治，一定失败。 李光耀总理知道一个未成熟的民主国家，一定要半威权，半民主。 不能完全彻底的开放，自由。否则就会失去国家的命脉。总统三番两次请和尚到总统府去讲话，因为长期的，总统了解和尚对政治有超越的观察力。为什么这么多历届的总统，在野党也好，执政党也好，各县市长，立委经常来请教常律老和尚， 难道他们头脑是那么肤浅， 会请教一个出家师父，老和尚吗？ 因为常律老和尚会给他们idea。 比如马英九总统就是采用常律老和尚建议的四个政策和很多建议。 但是当时的在野党民进党以党派利益至上，多方阻扰马英九的行政令， 为抵制而抵制。 政党的恶斗，结仇太深。 还有统独的问题，也在互相斗争。 所以台湾谁来当总统都一样。

而新加坡的政府很强势，所以他们没有游行，政府说了算。 但是政府的霸权是霸的有道理。 他们的公务员薪水很高，但没有贪污。 常律老和尚跟马英九总统谈国防，监察院的问题，法院如何改变， 司法的弊端，还有孔龙法官，司法，检察体系都有谈到，但是都被当时的在野党打枪。同样，当民进党有好的政策，国民党也全力抵制。 互相较劲。 所以这个国家没有前途了。 常律老和尚再次提出菩萨一直指示要改变这个国家，就是应该在台湾的地理中心（心脏），埔里，集结更多男众出家人，用男众出家人强而有力的功德力来改造这个国家。 可是好像没有人能听得懂和尚的话。 男众你们听只是这样听。 没有那种要牺牲自己来救国家，纵使出家是牺牲也好，就像当兵要打仗，男人要牺牲生命才能保卫国家。 没有人要来。 菩萨再怎么指示也没有用。 这就是我们的业力太重了。

常律老和尚根据他弟弟开世界工厂大企业的经验，已经正德团体中很多开大工厂的志工，大家看法都一样。 还引香港为例，香港人家家请外劳作保姆，帮助带孩子，做饭，整理房间，外劳作保姆费用合理，香港人每家都出得起，夫妇都在外面上班， 拼经济。 这样才对呀。 这个道理所有企业家，大家都知道。工厂请不到工人。 台湾的政府订的对外劳工人的福利很好，增加了企业的成本。 工厂的成本，生产的成本。 很多企业家都请常律老和尚跟总统建议，老和尚尽了力，大家听都听得懂，但是政府没有接纳。国家的政府实在是头脑坏了。办公人员没有生活常识，没有社会经验，整天都坐办公桌，死办公，不会去外面听听民间人家的反应。 台湾政府请技术经验的专家是按照其本国的薪金水平来参考的，但是请泰劳，菲佣，竟然是比照台湾本地的薪资水平给外佣。 结果增加了工厂的成本。 非常笨。 这种政府实在是没有用。